May 2009 archive

Five months ago after five hours of excruciating pain, a pain I never felt and couldn’t actually pinpoint the source of, I broke down and told my wife, fuck it, I gotta go to the emergency room. Now I’m a pretty tough cookie, over the years I have set and splinted numerous broken fingers on my own without ever seeing a doctor. I’ve used gauze and duct tape on cuts that should have had a dozen stitches, reset my own dislocated shoulder with the helpful cheering on of an old drinking buddy, and over the last 30 years have kept on working with dozens of different injuries that would have sidelined most people for weeks. I don’t say this as a form of self adulation to bask in some machismo bullshit, only to make the point that I can tolerate a lot of pain. It’s not like I had some wacky need to become this way, it’s just that when you are a single father of two kids for ten years like I was, doing a job that often results in injuries, you sometimes get hurt. And when the job conditions are such that if you don’t work, you don’t get paid, or collect benefits unless you are off for two or more weeks from that injury, you get up and work. Period.

So when I tell my wife that I have decided to go the the hospital, she knows I’m serious.

More after the jump….

from Cheney’s attempt to poison the jury pool speech today

In top secret meetings about enhanced interrogations, I made my own beliefs clear. I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program. The interrogations were used on hardened terrorists after other efforts failed. They were legal, essential, justified, successful, and the right thing to do. The intelligence officers who questioned the terrorists can be proud of their work and proud of the results, because they prevented the violent death of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent people

The interrogations were used on hardened terrorists…

The Unending Torture of Omar Khadr

.

after other efforts failed.

From MSNBC

Ali Soufan, testifying to a Senate panel behind a screen to hide his identity, said his team’s non-threatening interrogation approach elicited crucial information from al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah, including intelligence on “dirty bomb” terrorist Jose Padilla.

Soufan said his team had to step aside when CIA contractors took over. They began using harsh methods that caused Zubaydah to “shut down,” Soufan said, and his team had to be recalled the get the prisoner talking again.

Though, as usual, obliquely. After eight years of executive tyranny , the DOJ and Congress have been conditioned to follow the lead of the President rather than act as the independent bodies that they are. Perhaps this will help.

After all, Speaker Pelosi has full power to call for investigations, form committees, assign investigative powers in many ways. She has called for investigations, for a Truth Commission….but done nothing to pursue them. What was she waiting for? Perhaps a signal of permission from the POTUS. If so, I hope she was listening.

The relevant passage….

That is what I mean when I say that we need to focus on the future. I recognize that many still have a strong desire to focus on the past. When it comes to the actions of the last eight years, some Americans are angry; others want to re-fight debates that have been settled, most clearly at the ballot box in November. And I know that these debates lead directly to a call for a fuller accounting, perhaps through an Independent Commission.

I have opposed the creation of such a Commission because I believe that our existing democratic institutions are strong enough to deliver accountability. The Congress can review abuses of our values, and there are ongoing inquiries by the Congress into matters like enhanced interrogation techniques. The Department of Justice and our courts can work through and punish any violations of our laws.

I understand that it is no secret that there is a tendency in Washington to spend our time pointing fingers at one another. And our media culture feeds the impulses that lead to a good fight. Nothing will contribute more to that than an extended re-litigation of the last eight years. Already, we have seen how that kind of effort only leads those in Washington to different sides laying blame, and can distract us from focusing our time, our effort, and our politics on the challenges of the future.

We see that, above all, in how the recent debate has been obscured by two opposite and absolutist ends.  On one side of the spectrum, there are those who make little allowance for the unique challenges posed by terrorism, and who would almost never put national security over transparency. On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who embrace a view that can be summarized in two words: “anything goes.” Their arguments suggest that the ends of fighting terrorism can be used to justify any means, and that the President should have blanket authority to do whatever he wants – provided that it is a President with whom they agree.

Both sides may be sincere in their views, but neither side is right. The American people are not absolutist, and they don’t elect us to impose a rigid ideology on our problems. They know that we need not sacrifice our security for our values, nor sacrifice our values for our security, so long as we approach difficult questions with honesty, and care, and a dose of common sense. That, after all, is the unique genius of America. That is the challenge laid down by our Constitution. That has been the source of our strength through the ages. That is what makes the United States of America different as a nation.

I can stand here today, as President of the United States, and say without exception or equivocation that we do not torture, and that we will vigorously protect our people while forging a strong and durable framework that allows us to fight terrorism while abiding by the rule of law. Make no mistake: if we fail to turn the page on the approach that was taken over the past several years, then I will not be able to say that as President. And if we cannot stand for those core values, then we are not keeping faith with the documents that are enshrined in this hall.

Full text and video can be found here…

A crude but effective way of getting one’s message across to Congress was born several years ago out of my involvement with CodePink: the Wacky Fax. Originally used to lobby Congress on matters of impeachment and war funding, the Wacky Faxen relied on humor to get their points across. Faxzero provides an easy and fast means to lobby Congress from your PC.

Today or tomorrow the Senate will vote on the war supplemental bill. In concert with UFPJ’s National Media Day of Action on Afghanistan I urge all two and a half of my readers (there’s evidently been some serious soul fragmentation out there) to join with me in the sending of this, my latest Wacky Fax creation.

The Senate has already turned back a request from the Obama administration for an EIGHTY MILLION dollar budget to close Guantanamo Bay; a decision I feel is wise since honestly I find it boggling that it would cost that much to close anything so illegal and immoral. The rest of the country is suffering and we simply cannot afford to continue paying extortionate prices to do the right thing with our military. I demand to see justification for such a ridiculous budget. Close the doors, turn off the lights, find the unfortunate people who pulled that duty work somewhere else, send the folks inside either to a fair trial or back home with some form of well deserved wergild, and GO AWAY. This costs that much, exactly why? I think we have a right to know. Let’s see the budget. Let’s see the line items. Let’s see who got the no-bid contracts.

When my family is hit with a car repair or medical bill, we don’t eat. I’ve had to miss meals so that my husband can afford his asthma medication. There have been months where I had sixty dollars to work with for the food budget. I won a small cash prize of $100 last summer from a web site that went straight into the fridge. And we’re actually doing well compared to some.

I think we have a right to know why these military/industrial complex gluttons continue to be allowed to fleece the American public for all they’re worth. I think we have a right to see exactly what’s getting pork barrelled and where this money – money WE NEED coming to US – continues to go. I’m tired of being forced to deal with parts of our government who are still behaving like mafiosi running a protection racket. As Memorial Day and July 4th near, my otherwise formidable ex-military stomach turns as the warmongers ratchet up the hype and trot out that tired old propagandist music. If I never hear “Wind Beneath My Wings” or “Proud to be an American” again it will be too soon. What’s to be proud of? What’s to celebrate? The achievement of MY American dream? The way my entire family’s DoD service has been twisted and turned against the American citizenry on every level, to include me and mine? Proud of sanctioned torture? Proud of warrantless wiretapping and domestic spying? Proud of our collapsing economy? Proud of a complete and total lack of accountability toward the war criminals who pulled off the most vicious swindle of this or ANY century in the entire history of our nation? Oh, PLEASE!

Enough already. Get your Wacky Faxen going on. Use the one I posted here, or make your own.